"Chan Ho Park Chan Ho Park ((; ; born June 30, 1973) is a South Korean former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, and Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB), the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO League. He was the first South Korean-born player in major league history. Park has the most career wins, 124, of any Asian-born pitcher in history. He passed Hideo Nomo for the most ever by an Asian-born pitcher"
"United States, he is often credited with opening the door for Japanese players in Major League Baseball, due to his star status. Nomo pitched over the span of 13 seasons in the American major leagues with 8 different teams, before retiring in . He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1995. He twice led the league in strikeouts and also threw two no-hitters. He was the only Japanese pitcher in Major League Baseball to throw a no-hitter until the Seattle Mariners' Hisashi Iwakuma did so on August 12, 2015 against the Baltimore Orioles. Nomo currently resides in Los"
"control. Instead, in 1988, Nomo joined Shin-Nittetsu Sakai, an Industrial League team representing Nippon Steel's branch in Sakai, Osaka. During this time, Nomo slept with a tennis ball taped between his fingers in order to perfect his forkball grip. Nomo honed his forkball and his control while pitching in the Industrial League. At the 1988 Summer Olympics, Nomo played for the silver medal-winning Japanese baseball team and the Kintetsu Buffaloes drafted him in . Nomo debuted with them in 1990 and was an immediate success, going 18–8 but more impressively striking out 287 hitters in just 235 innings. The strikeout"
"Nomo, who was not yet eligible for free agency in Japan, was advised by Nomura that the Japanese Uniform Players Contract's reserve clause limited the Kintetsu Buffaloes' control over him to Japan only. Nomo utilized this loophole by voluntarily retiring from NPB to terminate his contract with the Buffaloes, circumvent its reserve clause and play in MLB. He announced his retirement from NPB in late 1994 and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in February 1995, where he won the National League Rookie of the Year award. The following year, the Dodgers signed Nomo to a three-year, $4.3 million contract."
"brought in to start the seventh inning of a game while the Yankees were leading 4-1. Nomo loaded the bases, but was able to retire his native countryman, Hideki Matsui, to strand all three runners. However, he later surrendered back-to-back homers to Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada in the ninth inning. On April 20, Nomo was designated for assignment. The Royals released him on April 29, 2008. On July 17, 2008, Nomo officially announced his retirement from Major League Baseball. Prior to the 2016 season, the San Diego Padres hired Nomo as Advisor, Baseball Operations, to assist the club with"
"and Alan and Marilyn Bergman, was released by GNP Crescendo Records (GNPD 1406) in 1996. Nomo has been referenced in hip-hop lyrics by rappers such as Pusha T and Wale. Pro wrestler Mitsuhide Hirasawa adopted the ring name Hideo Saito, partially in homage to Nomo. , or Retrosheet Hideo Nomo Hideo Nomo (野茂 英雄/Nomo Hideo, born August 31, 1968 in Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan) is a retired Japanese baseball pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). He achieved early success in his native country, where he played with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from to . He then exploited"
"he still went 14–12, joining Dwight Gooden as the only other pitcher to strike out at least 200 batters in each of his first three seasons. Nomo pitched poorly in , starting the season 2–7 and was dealt to the New York Mets. He was not much better and got released. In , he signed with the Chicago Cubs and made three starts for their Triple-A minor league team before refusing to make further starts in the minors, and got a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers, where he went 12–8 with a 4.54 ERA. He reached the 1,000 strikeout mark"
"in the first round of the 1966 amateur draft by the New York Yankees. He made his major league debut with the Yankees in 1969, and recorded a .310 batting average in 87 games in 1970. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1971, and played in 42 games as a defensive backup with the White Sox before being sent off to various teams from 1973 to 1974. He spent three years with the Montreal Expos, and ended his major league career with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1976. He signed with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the"
"player development and expand their international profile. With an overhand delivery Nomo threw a fastball topping out at 95 mph and a forkball as his primary pitches. Nomo has 123 wins in the Major Leagues and 78 in Japan, winning his 200th overall game on June 15, 2005. Nomo's success helped inspire other stars from Japan such as Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, and Daisuke Matsuzaka to come over to the States as well. In addition, Nomo is one of only five players that have ever pitched at least one no-hitter game in both the National League and American League in"
"for the Giants, Murakami returned to Japan to play for the Hawks. This affair led to the 1967 United States – Japanese Player Contract Agreement, also known as the ""working agreement"", between MLB and NPB, which was basically a hands-off policy. MLB and NPB officials created the posting system as a combined reaction to three cases in the 1990s, involving NPB players who moved to MLB. The first of these occurred in the winter of 1994 when pitcher Hideo Nomo, with the help of agent Don Nomura, became the second Japanese-born player to play in MLB, 30 years after Murakami."
"Angeles. Nomo was born into the working-class Osaka family of Shizuo, a fisherman and postal worker, and Kayoko, a part-time supermarket employee. As a youth, Nomo was shy and withdrawn, although passionate about baseball. He developed his corkscrew-style pitching motion in order to impress his father while playing catch. He believed that rotating from having his back turned to his target would help him add speed to his pitches. Nomo graduated from Seijo Industrial High School in Osaka where he grew to and . However, he was not selected in the Nippon Professional Baseball draft due to issues with his"
"to play in the major leagues, after Masanori Murakami and Hideo Nomo, and the first Japanese player to pitch in the American League. He was sent back to the minors shortly afterwards, but marked his first major league win in . He was sent briefly to the New York Mets in June, , before being shipped away again to the Kansas City Royals. He won 8 games in , including one shut-out victory. He went to the Colorado Rockies, then to the Milwaukee Brewers, before returning to the Royals again. He did not win a game in , and was"
"made his debut on October 20, 2007, against Tiburones de La Guaira. Nomo pitched one inning, allowing one hit and no runs. On January 4, , Nomo signed a minor league contract for 2008 with the Kansas City Royals. If added to the roster Nomo would have received a $600,000 one-year contract and the chance to earn $100,000 in performance bonuses. On April 5, his contract was bought by the Royals and was added to the 25-man roster. On April 10, Nomo made his first major league appearance since 2005. He faced the New York Yankees in relief. He was"
"he entered again into the draft where he was drafted in the 14th round of the 1985 Major League Baseball Draft by the California Angels and signed on June 7, 1985 in that same year. After multiple tours with several Major League teams, on January 26, 1996, he signed for the Nippon Professional Baseball team the Yomiuri Giants of Japan. Less than four months later, he signed with the Boston Red Sox. He would then spend the rest of his baseball career in Major League Baseball with several other teams. His last major league appearance was in 2000 with the"
"August 2015). Nomo's MLB success led to more NPB players moving to Major League Baseball, and eventually led to the creation of the ""posting system"" in 1998. Since Nomo's exodus, more than 60 NPB players have played Major League Baseball. Some of the more notable examples include: In September 2004, the professional Japanese players went on strike for the first time in over 70 years. The strike arose from a dispute that took place between the owners of the 12 professional Japanese baseball teams and the players' union (which was led by popular Yakult Swallows player-manager Atsuya Furuta), concerning the"
"off waivers by the New York Yankees, who signed him to a minor league contract, but never recalled him. Nomo was signed to a minor league contract by the Chicago White Sox during spring training in to play for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights of the International League, but the White Sox released him on June 7 of that year. In , Nomo signed on with the Leones del Caracas of the Venezuelan Winter League, managed by his former catcher, Carlos Hernández. His participation in the Venezuelan league was viewed as a first step toward an eventual Major League comeback. He"
"in Japan, serving as the sport's ""goodwill ambassador"" in the mid-1930s, and again after World War II. Japanese-American outfielder Fumito ""Jimmy"" Horio (who hailed from Hawaii) became the first American to play professional baseball in Japan when he joined the Dai Nippon Tokyo Yakyu Kurabu (later known as the Tokyo Giants) in December 1934, touring with them in 1935. Dai Nippon was a team of all-stars organized by media mogul Matsutarō Shōriki that matched up against a visiting American All-Star team that included Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Charlie Gehringer. Owner Shōriki survived an assassination attempt by right-wing"
"in 1999, the third fastest in major league history. The Brewers waived him after contract issues and the Philadelphia Phillies claimed him, then granted him free agency only 24 hours later after more contract issues. Finally signed by the Detroit Tigers in , he went 8–12 with a 4.74 ERA and was again released. Nomo signed with the Boston Red Sox in and started the season in spectacular fashion, throwing his second no-hitter in his Sox debut, on April 4, against the Baltimore Orioles, walking three and striking out 11. This no-hitter was the first in the 10-year history of"
"disliked the intense Japanese practice schedule, and the Carp denied him a salary increase from $45,000 to $180,000 per year. Like Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu, who had previously left Japan to play in the United States, Soriano hired Don Nomura to help his situation. After first attempting to void Soriano's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) contract by unsuccessfully arguing that the player was legally a minor when he signed it, Nomura advised him, like Nomo, to retire from NPB and pursue a career in MLB. This prompted Carp executives to file an injunction against Soriano, and to send letters to"
"player to relocate permanently to the American major leagues, as Murakami played only two seasons with the San Francisco Giants and then returned to the Japanese major leagues for the remainder of his career. The pressure on Nomo would be tremendous, and Japanese media and fans appeared in large numbers in games he started. Nomo's games were regularly broadcast live to Japan, despite the fact most people would be waking up when he started games. The tornado delivery that baffled batters in Japan had the same effect on major league hitters, and he led the league in strikeouts in 1995"
"decisions in a season). Before the start of spring training for , he signed a $800,000 contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The contract also included a $700,000 incentive that kicked in if Nomo started 20 games. The stipulation was allegedly included because Devil Rays upper management was unsure if Nomo had fully recovered from his injury. After a poor start in which he posted a 7.24 ERA, he was released on July 25. Coincidentally or not, this was two days before he was slated to make his twentieth major league start. On July 27, Nomo was picked up"
"Steere Noda Gikaku Steere Noda ( 1892–March 29, 1986) was a Japanese American politician, lawyer, and baseball player in the State of Hawaii. Noda was born in 1892 at the Ewa plantation to Esaki and Suma Noda, immigrants from Kumamoto, Japan. In 1905, six years after Takie Okumura started the first Japanese baseball team in Hawaii in 1899, Noda founded the Asahi Nisei Baseball Team. The team would later grow to become the Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJA) baseball league. At 13 years old, he was the first baseman, captain, and general manager for the team. He graduated from Mid-Pacific"
"Nemo Leibold Harry Loran ""Nemo"" Leibold (February 17, 1892 – February 4, 1977) was an outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1913 to 1925. He played for the Cleveland Naps, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, and Washington Senators. He stood at and was nicknamed for the comic strip character Little Nemo. Leibold began his professional career in 1911 with the minor league Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association. In 1913, he was traded to the Cleveland Naps, and he immediately broke into the starting lineup. He struggled early in 1915 and was released to the White Sox. In Chicago,"
"a grand slam to drive in all five runs for a 5-2 victory. After signing with the Dodgers as a free agent, he remained for two seasons before ending his major league career to pursue a baseball career in Japan. Following his major league career, he played for the Lotte Orions in Japan from 1977–1987. From his retirement to early 2018, he held the Japanese record for career batting average (players with more than 4,000 at bats). Norichika Aoki overtook him upon returning from MLB. He led the league in home runs and runs batted in in his first season,"
"five times, two home run crowns, three RBI titles, and had six titles for the most hits in a season. He was the first player in Japanese pro baseball to achieve 2,000 hits and was named the league's MVP three times. Leadoff man Shosei Go starred for the team from 1937–1943, winning league MVP in 1943. Only 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds, he was nicknamed ""The Human Locomotive"" due to his speed. Pitcher Hideo Fujimoto (also known as Hideo Nakagami) pitched for the team for 12 seasons from 1942–1955. He holds the Japanese records for lowest career ERA (1.90) and seasonal"
"to the White Sox. Nova was raised in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic. His father, Manuel, managed a restaurant on the beach. To make ends meet, Nova and his four siblings slept in the same bed and often worked in their father's restaurant. Nova rooted for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball and the Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Professional Baseball League as a child. He played baseball as a shortstop and outfielder, but was not highly regarded as a prospect. He went unnoticed by scouts until he experienced a growth spurt at the age of 15. Local"
"Japanese team and an American team, he was dealt to the San Diego Padres' Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Hawaii Islanders, for longtime Major League infielder Clete Boyer. Boyer played professionally in Japan for the Taiyō Whales from to . His roommate was Sadaharu Oh. After retiring in 1975, Boyer became the defensive coach for the Taiyō Whales in 1976. In 1972 the Hiroshima Toyo Carp became the last team to hire their first non-Japanese player (excluding Japanese-Americans), when former American League MVP Zoilo Versalles joined the team. Former league star Wally Yonamine became the first foreigner to be a"
"Noboru Aota Aota made his professional debut at age 17 in 1942 with the Tokyo Kyojin of the Japanese Baseball League (JBL). After the 1942 season (also with Tokyo), Aota left professional baseball to serve in the Japanese military through 1945. He returned to the JBL in 1946 with the Hankyu Braves, for whom he played through the 1947 season. Upon joining the Yomiuri Giants (the renamed Tokyo Kyojin) in 1948, Aota became one of the league's top home run hitters. He was a Best Nine Award winner in 1948, winning the batting crown and the home run championship. He"
"given to countrymen Hideo Nomo and Ichiro Suzuki. Following his rookie year, Berroa's performance went down annually in on-base percentage, runs, slugging percentage, and stolen bases. His fielding statistics included 77 errors from 2003 to 2005 (24, 28 —leading all Major League shortstops while he had the lowest fielding percentage among shortstops – .955, 25) that were the most among starting American League shortstops in that time span. Berroa has also produced declining walk totals in the years after his Rookie of the Year award. Berroa walked once every 21 plate appearances in 2003, but had fallen to a 36-to-1"
"Award during his career. Combined no-hitters are considered unofficial by Nippon Professional Baseball. Hideo Nomo threw the earliest no-hitter based on calendar date: April 4, 2001, the second game of the season for the Boston Red Sox, against the Baltimore Orioles. The Cleveland Indians' Bob Feller left the Chicago White Sox hitless in the 1940 season opener on April 16, the only official Opening Day no-hitter. There have been five no-hitters thrown on the final day of the regular season. Bumpus Jones of the Cincinnati Reds ended the season by no-hitting the Pittsburgh Pirates on October 15, 1892; this is"
"Nimo was chosen for the player pool of the under-14 U.S. national team. The midfielder attended Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland, and was a two-time all-state forward. He was considered one of the best players to ever come out of Oregon. He was named a Parade All-American, and all-state at Benson. Nimo received his U.S. citizenship in November 2006. In 2007, he joined the U.S. Residency camp located in Bradenton, Florida, and played for the U-17 national team. In the 2008 MLS SuperDraft, Nimo—who had already been signed by the league to a Generation Adidas contract worth $45,000 per"
"up for the deficit in the living expenses of his family, he left the university and obtained a job. At the same time, his dream took on a financial overtone as well since baseball players' salaries were very high. In 1958, three years after he started working, with the help of the manager of his team, he became a professional baseball player of the Hiroshima Carp. In 1958, he became a professional baseball player of the Hiroshima Carp, a Japanese professional baseball team belonging to the Central League, with the uniform number 29. In 1959, his second year as a"
"by their sponsoring companies and do not receive salaries as baseball players but as company employees. The best teams in these circuits are determined via the Intercity Baseball Tournament and the Industrial League National Tournament. The level of play in these leagues is very competitive; Industrial League players are often selected to represent Japan in international tournaments and Major League Baseball players such as Hideo Nomo (Shin-Nitetsu Sakai), Junichi Tazawa (Nippon Oil) and Kosuke Fukudome (Nihon Seimei), have been discovered by professional clubs while playing industrial baseball. Japan has won the World Baseball Classic twice since the tournament was created."